A set of routers may perform a designated forwarder (DF) election procedure utilizing multiple parameters associated with the set of routers, such as a parameter identifying a location of each router of the set of routers within a portion of a network, a parameter identifying an Internet protocol address of each router of the set of routers, or the like. A router, of the set of routers, may be selected as the designated forwarder for a portion of the network (e.g., an Ethernet segment, an Ethernet virtual private network instance, or the like) based on the set of routers performing the designated forwarder election procedure. The router may route one or more packets based on being selected as the designated forwarder for the portion of the network. For example, the router may forward multicast packets from an upstream position in the portion of the network to another router located at a downstream position in the portion of the network.